Lloyd’s Lab, the global insurance market’s new innovation accelerator, opened its doors on Monday following a global search for technology talent that drew more than 200 applications from 36 countries.

Monday’s event, attended by the Economic Secretary to the Treasury, John Glen MP, and Lloyd’s Chief Executive Officer Inga Beale, saw 20 teams pitching their ideas for the chance to develop products, platforms and processes that will help transform Lloyd’s into an increasingly technology- driven market.

Start-ups, entrepreneurs and businesses from as far afield as the US, Canada, Israel, the Netherlands, Ireland and the UK, presented ideas ranging from live-streaming drones for fast risk and disaster assessment, to harnessing the Internet of Things for live cargo tracking, to on-demand insurance for the gig economy.

Following the competitive application and pitching process, Lloyd’s has revealed the teams that will be offered a spot in the founding Lloyd’s Lab cohort, kicking off on 8 October*. These include:

• ZASTI, an AI technology platform built using proprietary Deep Learning algorithms to provide predictive and diagnostic solutions to solve multiple business problems.

• Qnity, a digital insurance that allows individuals to design their own insurance solutions.

• iCede, a cloud-based platform that enables large insurance companies to interact across

borders in order to arrange insurance cover for multinational corporations.

The teams joining the Lab will gain unparalleled access to the world’s largest market for specialist insurance and reinsurance, in support of its digital evolution. This tech talent will help deliver innovative solutions to some of the key challenges the Lloyd’s market faces and make a real impact on the market’s performance in a fast-track fast-fail environment.

Over the ten weeks, the selected Lab teams will have access to a dynamic co-working space located in the Lloyd’s building in London, potential funding and the chance to develop products, platforms and processes that will help transform Lloyd’s into an increasingly technology-driven market. They will be

Parsyl is a supply chain data platform that combines low-cost sensing hardware and

large scale data mining to allow insurers to better anticipate risk and improve the claims

process.

supported by the Lloyd’s market who will offer their insight and expertise to help develop the ideas for their unique needs.

Speaking about the significance of the Lloyd’s Lab as a hub for global InsurTech excellence, John Glen, Economic Secretary to the Treasury said:

“InsurTech is booming. There was $724 million of InsurTech investment globally in the first quarter of 2018 and the UK attracted 12% of that funding, placing it second only behind the US. We’re doing everything we can to maintain this momentum and cultivate innovation in the sector, but ultimately, it is down to firms like Lloyd’s to take the lead, and that’s exactly what they’re doing with their Lab.”

Inga Beale, Lloyd’s CEO added:

“Lloyd’s has always been at the forefront of innovation – the launch of our new innovation accelerator is an important step forward into our technology-driven future and we’re excited to see how the ideas develop. The Lab is an important part of our future focused strategy which will further strengthen our position as the global centre for insurance innovation.”

The launch of the Lab represents a significant milestone for Lloyd’s as it moves to modernise and harness the opportunities that advanced technology can offer to the 330-year old market and has been supported by applied corporate innovation specialist L Marks together with The Boston Consulting Group.

Applications for the second Lloyd’s Lab cohort will open later this year, for an early 2019 start. More details will be announced in due course.

Start-ups, entrepreneurs and businesses interested in applying for the Lloyd’s Lab should visit http://www.lloydslab.com.